23, 24, 29 and 30 June 2026 · 10am · Live online · Replays for everyone who registers

The Academic Edge Masterclass Series

How the students who win places at Oxford, Cambridge and the world's most competitive courses actually prepare. And why grades are only the starting line.

Four free live masterclasses with Kate, Oxford graduate and active examiner.

SECURE YOUR PLACE

Every serious applicant has top grades. So what decides who gets the offer?

Here is what most families work out too late.

At Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and the global top 20, strong grades are the price of entry. They are what gets your child considered, not what gets your child in.

Your child may be predicted A*s. They may be working hard, but so is everyone else in the pile.

The students who secure offers are doing something the others are not:

They close knowledge gaps before those gaps reach an exam.
They arrive in September already thinking at the level the year will demand.
They build genuine, evidenced passion for their subject.
They learn independently, in the way top universities expect, rather than waiting to be taught.

Most capable students never discover this. Most parents never see it until application season, by which point the gap is very hard to close.

This series closes it early, while there is still time to use it.

You are not worried your child can't do it.

You are worried they are not doing enough, or not doing the right things.

You can see the summer coming and the questions with it.

Should they be catching up, or getting ahead, or building supercurriculars, or fixing their study habits? And how would you even know whether what they are doing is genuinely competitive for the universities they are aiming at?

You don't want to hover over them. You also don't want your child reaching Year 13 only to find they were never quite ready.

That is exactly what these four sessions are for.

NICE TO MEET YOU

Hi, I'm Kate.

I read Biology at Oxford, I am an active examiner for several UK exam boards and I have spent fifteen years inside top UK boarding schools. In that time I have guided hundreds of students into Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and the Ivy League.

I have sat on both sides of the admissions process. I know what these universities are looking for because I have marked the papers and I have prepared the students who got the offers.

I built this series because the families I work with rarely have a knowledge problem. They have a visibility problem. They cannot see what top students do differently, so they cannot give their own child the same edge. Once they can see it, everything shifts.

"Kate has tutored all of my children over a period of five years. Within three months I could see the difference in their confidence and the organisation of their work. I would recommend her to any parent without hesitation"

- Theresa, parent

What you and your child will learn

Four sessions. Each one is a method top students already use, shown clearly enough that your child can put it to work the same evening.

Masterclass 1 · Strategic Catch-Up Tuesday 23 June, 10am

Most students don't know what they don't know. They revise the topics that feel comfortable and quietly avoid the ones they never fully grasped.

This session shows your child how to find those gaps using the same framework examiners use to mark them. They leave with a tool they can apply that night.

Masterclass 2 · Getting Ahead Wednesday 24 June, 10am

Reading ahead doesn't work. Students skim next year's content, feel as though they have seen it, then find in October that they cannot actually use it.

This session shows your child how to build real foundations over the summer, so that when teaching starts in September they are already working at the level they will need by Christmas.

Masterclass 3 · Beyond the Syllabus Monday 29 June, 10am

Oxbridge, medicine and the G5 do not simply want students who collect A*s. They want students who can prove a real intellectual interest in their subject.

This session shows what supercurricular work actually looks like at this level, and how to record it so that it carries weight in a personal statement and stands up in interview.

Masterclass 4 · Independent Study Systems Tuesday 30 June, 10am

This is about the skills no exam measures, the ones that separate students who merely cope at a top university from students who flourish there.

Top universities expect genuine independence. Not just tidy notes, but the ability to design a study system and learn without being led. This session shows your child how to build one.

What attending looks like

You register once and you are booked into all four sessions. Each runs live at 10am, so your child can put questions to Kate directly. If a date doesn't suit, the replay reaches your inbox the same day, so nothing is missed.

Your child leaves the series able to see what top students do and able to do it themselves. You leave knowing whether your child is actually on track and what to put in place this summer if they are not.

Ready to see what the strongest applicants do differently?

Most families spend years and considerable sums, chasing grades without ever seeing the part of the picture that decides the outcome. This series shows you that part. It costs nothing and your child can act on it straight away.

Kate teaches it openly because the families who join in June are very often the ones she goes on to support through the summer and into application season. If that turns out to be you, wonderful. If not, your child still walks away with four methods they can use for the rest of their academic life.

Dan came to Kate in Year 12 with an E in Biology. Four months later he finished three marks off an A* and won a place at medical school.

"Going from an E in my January mock to three marks off an A* has been incredible, and it got me into medical school." Dan

Joe narrowly missed his Oxford offer the first time. He came to Kate determined to reapply, and they worked on evidencing his genuine passion rather than relying on grades alone. He resat his A-levels, and this time he secured his Oxford place.

Madison arrived with a Grade 2 in iGCSE Science. After intensive work over the Christmas holiday installing new study systems, she reached a Grade 8 six months later, a six grade jump.

"You taught me revision methods I still use today with a smile in my heart. You changed my life for the better." Madison